THE LATEST | CANADANew York Times: The company is laying off about 30 percent of all its employees, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. That includes people on the business side and more than 300 of the roughly 800 journalists in the newsroom, the people said.
The cuts are a sign that Jeff Bezos, who became one of the world’s richest people by selling things on the internet, has not yet figured out how to build and maintain a profitable publication on the internet…
The Guardian: Martin Baron, former executive director of the Post, called out Bezos for an ill-timed decision to pre-empt the Post’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris for president in fall 2024, as well as a decision to narrowly focus its opinion page to prioritize writing “in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets”, decisions that led to the resignation of a top editor and quickly cost the Post hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
“Bezos’s sickening efforts to curry favor with President Trump have left an especially ugly stain of their own,” Baron said. “This is a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”…
CNN: Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos remains committed to the publication, its top editor told CNN in an interview Wednesday, hours after the Post laid off hundreds of employees.
“He wants the Post to be a bigger, relevant, thriving institution,” executive editor Matt Murray said.
Many Post journalists doubt that, however, arguing that the institution can’t cut its way to growth…
New Yorker: The Amazon founder bought the paper to save it. Instead, with a mass layoff, he’s forced it into severe decline…
New Republic: Today’s layoffs at this once great newspaper were nowhere near inevitable. But Jeff Bezos was never committed to the paper’s best traditions…